ERIC Number: EJ997326
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 20
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0095-182X
EISSN: N/A
Lest We Remember: Civil War Memory and Commemoration among the Five Tribes
Fortney, Jeff
American Indian Quarterly, v36 n4 p525-544 Fall 2012
This study addresses the ways in which Natives practiced self-silence in regard to public Civil War commemoration. Notwithstanding the incredible impact on Indian Territory and Indian lives, Oklahoma Indians themselves did not typically commemorate the Civil War. Therefore, Native American contribution to the Civil War was largely skewed in the American historical narrative as well as in public memorialization. A large concentration of statues, monuments, and other commemorative signifiers in the North and South excludes not only white and black soldiers who fought in the West but also the significant number of Indians who fought, resisted, and supported their own unique causes during the Civil War. For example, the aforementioned soldier' statue in Norman, Oklahoma, is intended to commemorate a white soldier, an ancestor of those who erected it, rather than a Native American who actually fought in the area. This monument is not atypical. This seems peculiar, considering that one must traverse "World War I Memorial Highway" and pass tributes to twentieth-century Chickasaw and Choctaw war accomplishments in order to arrive at a pantribal powwow celebrating war veterans. In light of this peculiarity, this study examines why Natives who made critical sacrifices during the war sought to bury the past. It asserts that while the North won the military conflict, the South came out the victor during the subsequent Reconstruction era. (Contains 31 notes.)
Descriptors: United States History, American Indians, Military Personnel, War, American Indian History, Holidays, Tribes, Cultural Differences, Racial Bias, Social Bias
University of Nebraska Press. 1111 Lincoln Mall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0630. Tel: 800-755-1105; Fax: 800-526-2617; e-mail: presswebmail@unl.edu; Web site: http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/catalog/categoryinfo.aspx?cid=163
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Oklahoma
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A